112 heat-related deaths have been reported in Mexico so far this year, almost double the number in 2022

Health officials in Mexico have reported at least 112 heat-related fatalities so far this year, confirming the seriousness of a recent heatwave that the president had earlier said was being exaggerated by alarmist media.

The study, which was made public late on Wednesday, also reveals a notable increase in heat-related mortality during the previous two weeks. The total number of heat-related fatalities this year to far is nearly quadruple what it was in 2022.

Normally, the Health Department releases a report on heat-related mortality every week, but in June—during the worst of the heat wave—it omitted a week.

The number of fatalities peaked during the week of June 18–24, when there were a record 69 deaths in one week throughout the country. In recent weeks, temperatures have surged to above 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in certain regions of Mexico.

The week of June 11–17 was also uncharacteristically terrible, with 31 fatalities nationwide.

The northern border state of Nuevo Leon, which is home to the industrial centre of Monterrey, has seen the highest number of heatstroke and dehydration-related fatalities so far this year.

Last week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that growing claims of heat-related fatalities were bogus and a product of a media blitz against his government.

According to López Obrador, who was referencing lower mortality tolls that were already out-of-date at the time, “there is an alarmist, yellow-journalism trend.”

In addition to the extreme heat, a delay in the arrival of the seasonal rains that usually cool things down in Mexico in mid-June also looked to have contributed to the high number of heat-related fatalities.

When contacted for comment about the delay in reporting the deaths, the Health Department did not answer right away.

It was also unclear why the president believed the fatalities to be a political problem, maybe as a result of assertions made by numerous media sites that some of the deaths may have been brought on by power outages at the houses of some of the deceased.

López Obrador is a fierce supporter of the government-run energy company.